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Sāṅkhya Yoga
साङ्ख्ययोगः
The imperishable self, and action without attachment to its fruit.
That which is never born
न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचिन्नायं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूयः।
अजो नित्यः शाश्वतोऽयं पुराणो न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे॥
It is not born, nor does it ever die; having come to be, it does not cease to be. Unborn, constant, everlasting, ancient — it is not slain when the body is slain.
The four adjectives are not repetition. Aja denies a beginning, nitya denies interruption, śāśvata denies an end, purāṇa denies novelty. Between them they close every door through which the self might be thought to arrive or depart.
The right to the act, not to its fruit
कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन।
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि॥
Your right is to the action alone, never to its fruits. Let the fruit of action not be your motive; nor let your attachment be to inaction.
The last clause is the one usually dropped. Having taken away the fruit as a motive, the verse immediately forbids the obvious escape — that if the fruit is not mine, I may as well not act.
योगस्थः कुरु कर्माणि सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा धनञ्जय।
सिद्ध्यसिद्ध्योः समो भूत्वा समत्वं योग उच्यते॥
Established in yoga, perform your actions, having abandoned attachment, Dhanañjaya — even in success and failure alike. Evenness is what is called yoga.
Samatva — evenness — is given here as the definition of yoga itself, before any mention of posture or breath.
बुद्धियुक्तो जहातीह उभे सुकृतदुष्कृते।
तस्माद्योगाय युज्यस्व योगः कर्मसु कौशलम्॥
One yoked to discernment casts off, here in this life, both good and evil deeds. Therefore yoke yourself to yoga: yoga is skill in action.
Kauśalam is ordinary craftsman's skill, not a mystical attainment. The claim is deliberately modest and therefore hard to argue with.
How a mind is lost
ध्यायतो विषयान्पुंसः सङ्गस्तेषूपजायते।
सङ्गात्सञ्जायते कामः कामात्क्रोधोऽभिजायते॥
In one who dwells on objects, attachment to them is born. From attachment, desire is born; from desire, anger.
क्रोधाद्भवति सम्मोहः सम्मोहात्स्मृतिविभ्रमः।
स्मृतिभ्रंशाद्बुद्धिनाशो बुद्धिनाशात्प्रणश्यति॥
From anger comes bewilderment; from bewilderment, the wandering of memory. From the ruin of memory comes the ruin of discernment; and from the ruin of discernment, one is lost.
Read with the verse before it, this is a single chain of eight links from an idle thought to ruin, with no supernatural step anywhere in it.
आपूर्यमाणमचलप्रतिष्ठं समुद्रमापः प्रविशन्ति यद्वत्।
तद्वत्कामा यं प्रविशन्ति सर्वे स शान्तिमाप्नोति न कामकामी॥
As waters enter the ocean — filled from all sides, yet unmoved in its foundation — so do all desires enter one who attains peace; not one who longs for what is longed for.
The image concedes that desires still arrive. What changes is the size of what receives them.